Scholarly research is often about the latest findings - the newest knowledge that our colleagues have gleaned from nature. Some articles buck this pattern and have impact long after their publication.

Today, we are releasing Classic Papers, a collection of highly-cited papers in their area of research that have stood the test of time. For each area, we list the ten most-cited articles that were published ten years earlier.

The list of classic papers includes articles that presented new research. It specifically excludes review articles, introductory articles, editorials, guidelines, commentaries, etc. It also excludes articles with fewer than 20 citations and, for now, is limited to articles written in English.